Or so he says

By Monte Dutton

Published: Friday, November 16, 2012 at 02:02 PM.

But Johnson was also realistic.

“… The truth of it is there are 20 points, 20 positions on the track,” he conceded. “If it was tighter, there would probably be more concern, but … I was enjoying the questions and I enjoy the fact the spotlight is over there (with Keselowski’s team).”

The old Homestead – Ricky Stenhouse Jr. also has a 20-point edge, though it’s in the Nationwide Series over Elliott Sadler entering Saturday’s Ford 300.

“Man, I feel like if you want to build a racetrack, you've got to build it like Homestead,” said Stenhouse, who has finished fourth and second in his two previous visits here. “The progressive banking, identical ends, so your race car is similar at both ends. The tires wear out.

“That's a good race track when you can run bottom to top, and it's kind of got a lane for everybody, depending on where your car is running best. I really enjoy it here. It's a lot of fun.”

“One of my favorite movies in the whole wide world is this documentary on Ayrton Senna, and there's this really powerful scene in that movie that sticks with me when I think about this weekend,” Keselowski said. “I think about this scene in the movie when they talked about him at Monaco, which was his, just his phenomenal track that he was so strong at, and how he had this huge lead over his teammate at the time, obviously had an identical car, which showcased what kind of talent Ayrton had, and they were coming down to the closing laps of the race, and they told him to slow down, you have a huge lead, don't worry, just slow down, just … and he wrecked.

“And I think of that as I approach this weekend. I'm going to go out there and play my game, race my way. That's got us to this point, and if we do that, we'll be fine, and I think that's our approach.

Mystical man – Jimmie Johnson, 20 points down to Brad Keselowski with one race to go, said, “For whatever reason, I'm at peace with my situation. I mean, I don't want to be in this situation, but I am strangely optimistic, and I can't explain why. There are just feelings that people have, and I'll see if this feeling comes true Sunday evening.”

Gamesmanship? Likely.

But Johnson was also realistic.

“… The truth of it is there are 20 points, 20 positions on the track,” he conceded. “If it was tighter, there would probably be more concern, but … I was enjoying the questions and I enjoy the fact the spotlight is over there (with Keselowski’s team).”

The old Homestead – Ricky Stenhouse Jr. also has a 20-point edge, though it’s in the Nationwide Series over Elliott Sadler entering Saturday’s Ford 300.

“Man, I feel like if you want to build a racetrack, you've got to build it like Homestead,” said Stenhouse, who has finished fourth and second in his two previous visits here. “The progressive banking, identical ends, so your race car is similar at both ends. The tires wear out.

“That's a good race track when you can run bottom to top, and it's kind of got a lane for everybody, depending on where your car is running best. I really enjoy it here. It's a lot of fun.”

High praise –Roger Penske, who has never won a Cup championship, likened the man on the verge of giving him one to one of the greats, Rick Mears.

“When it’s time to dig deep and make it happen, he’s a winner,” Penske said of Keselowski and, by extension, Mears. “I’d put him in that category.”